Swing Swing
by Eastwind
Summary: This is a Meryl+Vash songfic sort of thing. It's based on the song Swing Swing by the All-American Rejects. I spent a while on it, but it may be pretty odd because I was sugar-high when I wrote it!!! Don't flame me if the song doesn't go with the fic...pl


Author's note:  
  
this takes place after Vash kills Legato, but before his battle with Knives. So there you have it.  
  
"Swing Swing" is by the All-American Rejects, and don't sue me. All credit where due. Don't flame me because the song doesn't fit the fic...if you think about it...it does...kinda...  
  
ENJOY!! ^^   
  
I've done a bad thing, Rem...  
  
I've done a bad thing...  
  
Glowing white is what I awoke to. The kind of white that burns your eyes. Squinting I reached for the box beside me. The night before it had been filled with doughnuts. Hopefully I didn't eat them all.  
  
"Rem..." I said almost unconsciously as I felt around for a doughnut.  
  
My hand felt almost too heavy for me to lift us. Maybe it was because Legato was gone. So was my arm.  
  
//Days swiftly come and go  
  
I'm dreamin' of her  
  
She's seein' other guys  
  
Emotions a stir\\  
  
No luck. All I felt was stickiness. I picked up the box and put it to my face, and licked the inside.   
  
I put the box down and squinted out the window. It looked like another sunny day. Another cruel and beautiful day. It was a day like the day before. It choked out any hope of love and peace like a black widow wrapping silk around a butterfly.  
  
I shut my eyes for a moment. I was even thinking like Knives now. I had become lower than him.  
  
//The sun is gone  
  
The nights are long  
  
And I am left while the tears fall...\\  
  
Meryl knocked on the door a few times. Then she opened it a crack and stuck her face up to it, and said very quietly, "Mr. Vash? I came to see how you're doing."  
  
Her voice was quacking and cracked.  
  
I thought of the last thing that Rem had said to me.  
  
"Vash, take care of Knives!"  
  
//Did you think that I would cry  
  
On the phone?  
  
Do you know what it feels like  
  
Bein' alone?\\  
  
I leaned up. The pain in my chest throbbed. I leaned back down. The sting was still there. And there was a stinging in my eyes. Tears ran down my cheeks, hot and salty. They seemed to burn against my cold face. "I'm so sorry, Rem...I'm sorry...I can't take care of him..." my heart screamed, as I grimaced in pain.  
  
That was enough to get Meryl in the room and by my side.  
  
//I'll find someone new...\\  
  
"Take it easy..." she said with a weak smile. She put her hand on my chest very gingerly and stroked it as if it were a cat.  
  
That was uncomfortable.  
  
"Urgh" came out of my mouth and I sort of pushed her hand aside.  
  
More pain in my chest.  
  
"Oh...I'm sorry..." she said, snatching her hands back from my chest.  
  
"It's...fffffine..." I said between clenched teeth.  
  
//Swing swing swing from the tangles of  
  
My heart is crushed by a former love  
  
Can you help me find a way\\  
  
I tried leaning up again. This time I succeded. It was then that I realized that Meryl was now sitting on the bed.   
  
//To carry on again\\  
  
Her eyes were the most beautiful shade of dark blue I have ever seen. Her smile was so thoughtful. Her hands, folded on her lap, seemed so tender. Loving. Peaceful.  
  
She reminded me so much of Rem.  
  
I choked back some tears.  
  
"Really...I-I'm fine..."  
  
I think I was saying that halfway to her and halfway to myself.  
  
I think she could tell. Her smile seemed to grow more tender.  
  
//Wish cast into the sky  
  
I'm movin' on...  
  
Sweet beginings do arise  
  
She knows I was wrong\\  
  
How could Knives want to destroy something so beautiful? How could he think of them as nothing but spiders.  
  
I covered my face. I wanted to hide.  
  
We were the spiders.  
  
//The notes are old  
  
They bend, they fold  
  
And so do I   
  
To a new love\\  
  
"Vash" Meryl said.   
  
I felt her hand on my shoulder.   
  
I took my hands away from my face. She looked so concerned.  
  
//Did you think that I would cry  
  
On the phone?  
  
Do you know what it feels like  
  
Bein' alone?\\  
  
As I looked into her eyes I saw myself.   
  
Myself.  
  
The humaniod typhoon.  
  
The one who destroyed July.  
  
The one who killed so many.  
  
The devil himself stared out from my eyes. I felt more of the stinging in my eyes. More of the burning down my face.  
  
//I'll find someone new...\\  
  
She took me in her arms and held me for a bit.  
  
It wasn't a sexual way of taking me into her arms. I knew she wasn't expecting anything more. She just held me.  
  
She held me like Rem used to...  
  
Like Rem used to...  
  
I closed my eyes and went back to when Rem cradled me in her arms like I was the only thing that mattered. Like Knives didn't exist. Like you could save the butterflies without killing the spiders.   
  
I heard Rem singing that song to me. She paused in mid word and whispered something I couldn't quite catch. Then she said it a little louder.  
  
//Swing swing swing from the tangles of  
  
My heart is crushed by a former love  
  
Can you help me find a way  
  
To carry on again\\  
  
"No one has the right to take away another person's life. No one." is what I heard. I kept my eyes closed, and soon the feeling slipped away. Soon it was nothing but a sweet taste in my mouth of a time when I could follow what Rem said without so much conflict.  
  
"Don't go..." my head cried after the feeling.  
  
"Rem..." I whispered.  
  
My eyes stung like hell.  
  
I remember holding on to Rem like I was holding on to my own fragile existance.   
  
I held on to Meryl tighter.  
  
"Meryl..." I whispered, and pulled her closer.  
  
She held me tighter.  
  
"Don't leave..." I heard her whisper.  
  
I felt Meryl shake and tears streamed down her face and on to my shoulder.   
  
//Bury me...\\  
  
"Everything will be alright. You'll see. Just stay with me, please. Just stay with me. Forever." Meryl cried in quavering voice. She was shuddering.  
  
//You thought your problems were gone...\\  
  
"Please..." she whispered again. She tugged on my shirt and grasped it like her life depended on me.  
  
I looked down at her. She seemed so perfect. Was she sad because of me? Did I do something to hurt her?   
  
//Carry me...\\  
  
"Meryl?"  
  
//Away, away, away...\\  
  
"Yes?" she said. She stopped crying. Her shoulders had stopped heaving. She stopped shuddering, and loosened her grip on my shirt.  
  
//Swing swing swing from the tangles of  
  
My heart is crushed by a former love\\  
  
"I love you."   
  
//Can you help me find a way  
  
To carry on again\\  
  
My voice almost as quavering and shakey as hers. I hadn't said that since I'd seen Rem...  
  
A voice inside me was telling me that if I touched her or stayed with her, she would only die. But that voice was drown out by what I was feeling. True love. True Peace.  
  
I could feel her smile.  
  
"I love you too, Vash." she whispered.  
  
She let go of me, and wiped her eyes. Then smiled up at me.  
  
Rem smiled down at me.  
  
//Swing swing swing from the tangles of  
  
My heart is crushed by a former love  
  
Can you help me find a way  
  
To carry on again\\  
  
"What are you two kids doing?" Milly said smiling from the doorway.  
  
I felt my face go hot.   
  
Meryl blushed too.  
  
"N-Nothing!!" I squawked.  
  
But Milly had already run and grabbed Meryl. She was hugging her.  
  
"I'm so proud you actually told him how you felt, Meryl!!!" she said smiling.  
  
Meryl looked as if she were holding back an embarassed smile.  
  
"Were you listening to our conversation?" Meryl said with a tone of false anger.  
  
"No...but I can just TELL by the look on your face!!" Milly laughed.  
  
Meryl was blushing like her face was on fire.  
  
"Well, didn't she tell you?" Milly said, smiling, happier then I had ever seen her after she lost Wolfwood, "The only reason she came in was to tell you how she felt, you know..."  
  
Meryl smiled, and nodded.  
  
I smiled.  
  
//Swing swing swing from the tangles of...\\ 


End file.
